Rico the Hedgehog
by Dark Brother 16
Summary: Keep in mind, this is based off of a select few issues in the Comic book Sonic Franchise. This story is a recounting of two individuals bound to paths of evil, one by honor and duty, and the other by a bloodlust. But one of them isn't what they seem.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- An Introduction

Shade entered the room and announced to her superior, "You sent for me, Grandmaster?"

The Mobian to whom she addressed turned and allowed the implants on her dreadlocks to stop swinging before telling her fellow echidna, "Yes, Shade,  
I did." Lien-Da strutted over to her best assassin and began telling her the situation, which she was famous for doing- getting to the point, right off the bat. "As you  
know, we have fended off an attack upon our people by the Dingoes several hours ago."

"Yes, ma'am." Shade confirmed. "I was there."

Ignoring this, Lien-Da continued. "The technicians have determined that they were using new bio-weapons in their attack."

This was news to Shade. She raised her eyebrows inquisitively as she asked, "Bio-weapons, Grandmaster?"

"Yes. As far as our technicians are able to tell, they had what appears to be a complicated formula in their bloodstreams. It's difficult to tell, because our  
template is dead, but it would seem that the serum didn't really work as it was supposed to."

"Really?" That would explain why the Dingoes didn't perform any better than they usually did.

The Grandmaster continued. "We need to know where the Dingoes got these weapons. Fortunately, we have a lead. A weapons manufacturer and  
trafficker from the Kingdom of Acorn is very well known for creating these types of weapons. Within the last three months, he has sold weapons to the criminal  
underworld, the Eggman Empire, the Overlanders, criminals in the Kingdom of Acorn itself and even someone in the East. But it would seem that some of his  
customers were always dissatisfied with his work. The weapons only worked for the Overlanders.

"Recently, he had been tracked down in his base of operations and captured by the Freedom Fighters."

Shade was confused. "Then what would you like me to do?"

"His production, oddly enough, never stopped." Lien-Da turned to stare out the window to the cabin at the sky before them, hands held behind her back.  
"That must mean that he is far more successful than we could have guessed. I want you to break into Freedom HQ while he's being interrogated and take him out."

This was what Shade liked to hear. Her target was a criminal, and a dangerous one, too. "I will leave at once, Grandmaster."

Sally approached the maximum security detention area that they had developed in the Headquarters and found where the others were waiting. Bunnie had  
her mechanical arm and her organic arm crossed. Antoine was fingering his cutlass. Rotor continued to crack his massive knuckles in annoyance. Speaking of  
Knuckles, the echidna from Angel Island, the future Guardian of the Master Emerald, was there as well, but, like the others, he was growing impatient as well. He  
was growling so much that Miles "Tails" Prower edged away from him. Knuckles' girlfriend Julie-Su, who usually kept Knuckles from exploding, seemed to be  
focusing on her own temper at the moment. Mighty grumbled, "Just let me in there." to which his little friend Ray the Flying Squirrel insisted, "No, Mighty. Just wait."  
Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy and Saffron Bees had long since lost interest and were off in another part of the room and whittling away the  
time by playing Truth or Dare.

"Still nothing?" Sally asked the others. They shook their heads, so Sally asked, "What has he said?"

The voice of Nicole emanated from a side panel beside the door, and said, "Here's what he's saying now."

The strong but scraggly voice of the prisoner came into the speaker. "-live at home with your mom."

"I do not." spluttered his interrogator Jeffery St. John. "I moved out when I was old enough to serve, and I got a record that crushes yours, mate."

The prisoner laughed evilly as he mocked, "'Mate'? Typical Aussie No, your record doesn't crush mine, kid. I killed way more guys than you. Way more.  
So shut the heck up about being superior, when you're clearly not."

Now Jeffery was mad. "No, I killed more people for a cause, not for money."

But the prisoner wasn't listening "You're all very pathetic people, and I could kill all of you in a fight when you have the advantage and I have one hand  
tied behind my back. No, I don't kill for money." he finally told him. "I kill because I have to uphold a vast and powerful criminal empire and I can't do that without  
killing a guy once in a while."

"So, you're a murderous psychopath?" asked Jeffery's wife, Hershey.

"No, that's not what I am either." the prisoner continued to argue. "Psychopaths have no choice, no control over their actions. I kill because it's my  
choice, and because my business thrives when I kill off the competition."

"What kind of business have you done lately?" Hershey asked in forced politeness.

"Guns, drugs, crooked politics, that kinda thing." the prisoner responded shiftily "And spying on everyone from the Eggman Empire to you dirtbags. I  
always have control of the situation. And as soon as I escape, I will be reporting this to the authorities-"

"Reporting what?" Jeffery asked.

"-That you have broken several laws. Duh. You destroyed public property, wasted several dozens of lives-"

"-What the heck?!" Jeffery raged. "You broke every law there is!"

"- arrested me without a search warrant, didn't site my rights- No, boy!" the prisoner shouted. "I am in control, here! Not you! Not you! You watch  
yourself, kid! YOU HEAR ME!?"

Sally had heard enough. She typed in the passcode and tramped through the hundred meters of steal that was this guy's cell. All the while, the shouting  
match continued.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." the prisoner asserted smugly to a taken-aback Jeffery. "You tred carefully from here on out, 'cuz I can make life real hard  
for you so-called Freedom Fighters. Watch. I'll get out of here, and then watch me."

"The courts will not pass up this opportunity to lock up the biggest arms trafficker on Mobius." Sally pointed out.

The prisoner grinned a pointed-toothed grin. Sally had to force herself not to look away, because he looked so much like Sonic it wasn't natural. The  
prisoner was a white Hedgehog with blue eyes, a black leather vest, ripped black jeans and leather gloves and boots that were also black. He reminded her of  
Anti-Sonic, except that he was white, a little bit shorter, and didn't wear any sunglasses. As he reminded her so strongly of her beloved speedster, this evil grin made  
her skin crawl.

"Yeah, and that's what will give me the advantage." he chuckled. "Putting a personal agenda ahead of true justice? I'd put that out on the airwaves and  
make sure that the people know about this, and you'll be screwed, real bad."

"You seem very confident of that." Hershey told him.

"Of course I am." he agreed. "I have more than enough at my fingertips to ruin your family dynasty, maybe even the entire idea of a monarchy. You think  
you're the heroes? No, I am the Freedom Fighter here, sis. I fight for freedom, I fight the real fight against evil. You and your troop, you just fight Dr. Eggman. That is  
what he's calling himself now, right?"

Sally attempted to redirect the conversation back to the topic. "I want to get back to talking about the gun trafficking again."

"Ha, I'll bet you do."

"You will talk, you stupid braggart!" Jeffery bellowed.

"No, I won't." he answered. "Because you won't actually do anything to me. I am in control of this situation. You want me to tell you my operations? You  
have no idea what I have done to become needed. Yeah, that's right, needed. You lock me up, people will starve, lose their jobs, even get shot up. But I have what I  
need to get out of here-"

"How are you even going to do that?-"

"You have no idea what the law is, do you? You need an arrest warrant, unless dealing with enemies of the country, because otherwise, you'd be at war.-

"We are at war, and you are dealing with the Eggman Empire.-" Jeffery raged on.

"-You don't arrest someone without giving them their rights- You have no proof that I worked with the Eggman Empire, dirtbag! I'm going to get you all  
arrested. Keep trying to pin stuff on me, and you'll dig yourself a bigger grave! If you hold me here much longer, I have about four hundred and eighty-nine thousand  
thugs, armed to the teeth and trained in unconventional warfare ready to march on anywhere I choose-"

"-How do you tell them?" Sally asked.

"-Yeah, wouldn't you like to know? I run this show, here, sis. Now let me out, or suffer the severe consequences-"

"Where did you sell the weapons?" Jeffery demanded.

But the prisoner ignored him. "I can kill this team's reputation. I can kill the reputation of the Chaotix. I can kill the reputation of everyone you could ever  
join up with-"

"Where did you sell the weapons?" Jeff asked again.

"-And then when I've deconstructed your public images, I'll round you all up, surround you with an army of the baddest villains ever, and waste you  
away. Then when that happens, I'll still be in control-"

"Where did you sell the weapons?" Jeff asked louder.

"-won't I? Oh, shut up, you stupid, striped, inferior, jelly-bellied Aussie alright?!" he finally acknowledged the skunk. "Nobody's interested in your dumb,  
meaningless feelings of insecurity right now."

This was getting out of hand fast. Jeffery roared, "Call me those things again, and I swear-"

"Don't talk, mate." the prisoner taunted.

"Oh, making fun of my accent, now, are you?"

"Hey mate, is that you? Talking again? You really are inferior."

Jeffery tried to regain his composure as he asked slowly, "Okay. So, what- what makes me.. an inferior person?"

"Because I'd slap half your teeth out your gums if I took you on again-"

"No, you wouldn't, you'd be beaten again-"

"-I'd give one, two, uppercut, neck snap, and you'd be dead, with no teeth left, mate."

"Okay, that's it!" he yelled, pushing the table out of his way. Oddly enough, this didn't bother the prisoner "If you don't talk right now, I'll cut that dirty  
tongue out of your head."

"No, you wouldn't do that in front of the women and children, would you, mate?"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"Mate, mate, mate, mate, mate, mate, mate, mate."

Suddenly, a flash of dark red energy appeared behind the prisoner and faded away to reveal an echidna girl in a skin-hugging one piece and dreadlocks  
pulled back with a headband. She quickly formed an energy blade with similarly dark red energy and jabbed it into the prisoner.

After the initial shock of the blow, the prisoner simply laughed and told the newcomer, "Haven't you heard of me before?" He stood from his chair,  
turned to her, and revealed the wound, which quickly closed itself up. "I am Rico the Hedgehog, the most notorious criminal on Mobius. Nothing can kill me. And  
you've just ticked me off."

With the speed of a world-record human puncher, he delivered a powerful double right hook, which severed his handcuffs. Shade hadn't planned for this  
to happen at all, and she tried to teleport away. But as she did so, Rico grabbed her wrist and went with her.

The Chaotix finally showed up, but they were too late. "What just happened " Sally demanded, being in the same boat as the others. Whatever just  
happened, it happened too fast to register.

**What a way to introduce two characters! Pit them in an epic fight to the death. Who will come out on top? Where do the Freedom Fighters stand in this? Stick around and find out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Okay, I have gotten a few reviews so far that made a helpful observation. Some have noticed that there are a few mistakes with regards to the actual continuity of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Comics. I believe that I have already addressed this issue, but I would like to make it absolutely clear now. I am not very well versed in the Comic Book Universe of Sonic the Hedgehog. But I will give it a shot based on what I DO know. **  
**Anyway, now that that's out of the way, on to the story!**

Shade tumbled to her hands and knees, and delivered a well-aimed kick to her adversary's chest. As she now had time to breath, she flipped to her feet and prepared a Chaos Spear.

Meanwhile, Rico had already gotten to his feet and was already rushing at her with murder in his eyes. So Shade threw her Chaos Spear into his neck, blanching as this didn't even slow him down. Rico slammed into her, knocking her into a nearby tree.

As her vision blurred, Shade heard Rico say as he looked around, "Where are we, some kind of forrest?"

"We.." she stammered as she stood again. "We're at Angel Island."

"Oh good." he returned as he prepared to throw his next attack. "Crime City is only a few hundred miles away, but I can easilly steal transport from the Dark Legion."

"They'll never help you." she spat. "We want you dead?"

This made Rico burst out laughing. "You people wanna kill me? ME?! I already told you. I can't be killed. You stabbed me in the heart and shot me in the neck. What more proof do you want?"

"Maybe if I were to cut off your head."

"Okay, do it." Rico told her without hesitation. "I dare you."

He spread his arms and provided no more resistance. He obviously didn't think she'd actually do it, but Shade wasn't about to pass up this opportunity. So, she summoned her Chaos Energy and promptly sliced his head off. Mission accomplished, Shade turned to leave, but as she did, a truely disgusting noise made her turn.

Rico's headless corpse began pushing itself back up to its feet. All the while, what sounded like flesh moving due to surgical tools penetrating it came from his neck and the neck stump began to extend back to its original length. The spine grew back, and with it, a brand new head started to expand from the top vertebrae. In seconds, Rico's head was back and he was grinning in superiority.

"Yeah, you can't kill me." he taunted. Without warning, he grabbed her by her shoulders and shoved her into a nearby tree, then grabbed her again and threw her several feet away.

Deciding to use her teleportation to her advantage, Shade appeared behind Rico and shot him with enough force to shatter a mountain. He landed where she had, a gaping hole in his ribcage. But he wouldn't stay down, and when he got up, he lept to his right to a large rock. Shade teleported out of the way just in time, because Rico ripped the giant stone out of the earth and hurled it at her. As she reappeared, Shade shot a trio of Chaos Arrows into Rico's side, teleporting away immediately when Rico turned to try and attack.

This conflict continued for well over two hours and Shade was getting absolutely nowhere. He wouldn't stay down, he wouldn't fall for very many of her tricks, and he wouldn't even slow down. It was as if he could replenish his stamina as well! The forrest was burning, ripped apart. Rico would wait until Shade had shot something big enough into pieces that he could throw, or else shoot him into something that he could throw. Shade would keep teleporting into cover when she was about to pass out from exhaustion, but he would usually find her after a few moments. And now that there was a fire blazing, she couldn't even stay hidden at all without giving herself away by coughing.

Almost completely worn out, Shade began making mistakes. Her moves were becoming predictable to her opponent and he was taking advantage of his inability to tire. He would time her attacks and find out when she was taking breaks so that he could burst through the inferno and attack when she began to cough. During one such occassion, Shade panicked and teleported into a nearby tree. But in doing so, she couldn't have found a more smoke-filled area. The tree she found herself in was ablaze.

As soon as she realized this, Rico had already found her and roundhouse kicked the trunk of the tree. It easilly gave way and Shade was instantly pinned under a burning branch.

"You're good." came Rico's voice through the smoke right before his hand. He grabbed her by the throat and added, "But I'm better." Bam! He gut punched her. Bam! He punched her in the face.

Next, he threw her into a rock. Shade was struggling to remain conscious now. The smoke was suffocating her, she was worn out now, and the impact of Rico's unending onslaught was taking more and more out of her. Her vision was blurred again, and darkness began to set around the edge of her awareness.

Suddenly, she felt herself lifted into the air again. "The Dark Legion will probably not help me out. But they'll help you."

He dropped her onto his knee, which slammed painfully into her stomach. She spluttered, refusing to fall unconscious.

"Still conscious? Remarkable!" He grabbed her jaw and squeezed really hard. The strangle hold he had her in was the final nail in the coffin, and she passed out. Rico picked her up and took her out of the forrest and into sight of the floating island. He smiled evilly.

"Grandmaster!" a Legionaire called desperately. "Grandmaster, you need to see this."

"What is it?" Lien-Da demanded. This sounded serious, and nothing of that nature could be tolerated.

"Someone is challenging us."

"Where?"

"Right below us!"

"What?"

The observation deck openned up to reveal the landscape below. There was a fire in the forrest behind the white hedgehog, and the broken body of Shade lay beneath his heel.

"Oh, so you can hear me!" he laughed.

"Who are you?" Lien-Da shouted out the only open window.

"You know who I am." the hedgehog shouted back. "You ordered this assassin to kill me."

Realization dawned on Lien-Da as she asked, "You?! You developed weapons for the Dingos?"

"The Dingos?" he replied. "No, my latest client was the Eggman Empire. But I have something more important to tell you."

"Oh?"

"First, is this assassin of any value to you and the Dark Legion?"

"No, she's a hired lackey." she lied.

This didn't compute with the pale criminal. "Oh, I highly doubt that."

"And why is that?"

"If she were a hired gun, she wouldn't be so powerful or so blindly devoted to her cause." he explained. "If she were a bounty hunter, she'd have quit our glorious battle an hour ago. But, if she really isn't that valuable, then I guess our business is concluded." He raised his foot, ready to stomp on Shade's throat and snap her windpipe.

Lien-Da couldn't help herself. "WAIT!"

Rico gave a toothy grin as he put his foot down beside his unconscious hostage. "Yeah, I thought so. Is this really the best you have to throw at me? Is this the full strength of the Dark Legion? Ha! Pathetic! Now, if you want to keep your most valuable soldier, give me a transport."

Lien-Da's conscience waged war. She really, really didn't want the target to get away. He would probably continue to manufacter his weapons. But on the other hand, Shade was by far the most lethal and competant the Legion had. Sacrificing her for a chance at killing this guy would be foolish. If he could defeat Shade, then he would most likely be able to survive her fleet. Besides, Shade probably had intel on his powers. Plus, there may be a way to still have him killed .

The shuttle was small, but it would probably get him to Crime City in an hour or so. As it landed, a Dark Legionaire stepped out and openned fire. Idiots! Rico walked up to him and smacked him out cold. Now he had a weapon and a ride back home. Bonus!

Shade awoke in the hospital wing of the Legion's mothership. Grandmaster Lien-Da was beside her cot.

"I see the medics were right when they said you were coming around."

"What- what happenned?" Shade sat up and looked around. "Where'd Rico go?"

Lien-Da scowled. "So that's his name. He used you as a bargaining chip to secure his ride to wherever he was going."

Humiliated, Shade rubbed her eyes in dismay. "I'm sorry, Grandmaster. I failed my mission."

"Can you tell me why? Noone has ever defeated you before."

"He- he wouldn't die!" Shade exclaimed. "I stabbed him, I shot him through the throat, I even decapitated him."

Shocked, Lien-Da stammered, "Wh-what?"

"His wounds would fill themselves back up." the shamed assassin elaborated. "When I chopped his head off, it just grew back. After I misfired and started a forrest fire, he would breath the smoke and be affected by it like the rest of us, but it wouldn't slow him down. He walked through fire. He didn't even tire out. We fought for two hours and he never so much as stopped to take a quick breather."

The Grandmaster couldn't believe it. This was almost nonsensical, impossible. But Shade wouldn't make this up.

Shade now had to put everything she had to keep from breaking down. "Nothing could stop him. And now because of me, he's back out there. What are we going to do?"

There was no other answer. "I'll let you know when I figure it out."

Rico drove the shuttle to its limit for the next hour. His plans were coming together very well, even now. He knew who was on what side of the law, he knew who was pulling whose strings, and he knew how to psychologically torment anyone, anyone at all. Things were going very well for him indeed.

And then it came into view. Crime City, the Fortress of Ill-Gotten Fortunes, the closest anyone could get to Hell and still be in the realm of the living. Its decadence hid the militarism of the occupants very well. The Gang Wars were an ongoing struggle in this city, and Rico had long since decided to use this struggle to root out the weak in his army- in other words, every gang in the city, including the Cops, when the situation or he demanded it. This also generated great income, because the gangs were always doing anything to stay ahead of their competition, including steal from other countries.

That was why Crime City was called Crime City. Crime was the law, paradoxically. Every police officer in the city was under his thumb, being nothing more than a more organised Gang in the first place. How the Freedom Fighters ever managed to defeat his army and beat him was still a mystery to Rico, but he didn't really care how they did it. They were not his enemies. Not his main ones, anyway.

Suddenly, an incoming transmission came in from the Airtraffic Control of the miniscule airport in the city. "Unidentified vessle, turn back now or be fired upon."

"It won't make much of a difference, Airtraffic Control." Rico told them.

Their tone changed instantly from threatenning to almost sycophantic. "Oh, sorry, boss. Nice ride."

"Thanks. Feel free to break it down and sell it for scrap when I land."

**Where will things go from here? Is Rico going to join the Freedom Fighters? What will Shade do now? What will she do when she next meets Rico?**

**Please leave a review and enjoy.**


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